Tag: iPhone

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus and well, sees minor improvements. As with the usual iPhone upgrade cycle, the 6s will look physically the same as last year’s iPhone 6, but with a new colour option (Rose Gold). Main new features are an improved camera, and “3D Touch” from the Watch’s “Force Touch”.

The big change that will be felt by most would be the new 12 megapixel camera. The shots Apple showed off were amazing. By the way, with the newer camera and 4K video, it’s time to get a bigger capacity model. The front facing camera is now 5 megapixel, with selfie-flash by illuminating the phone screen.

“3D Touch” might be described as a right click for iOS, adding new functionality and tactile feedback to iOS 9. Press down on the camera to launch the camera in selfie mode, or hold down on a message in Mail for a quick preview. The API’s out and integration has started for third party apps such as Instagram and Dropbox. It’s useful but will probably see better integration at a later stage once developers get their hands on it.

The iPhone 6s will be upgraded with Apple’s new A9 processor, which it says is 70 percent faster than the A8 CPU’s and 90 percent faster for graphics. The A9 processor has the M9 motion processor integrated and always on. But to most users, this wouldn’t make a difference. The Touch ID fingerprint sensor is upgraded, which should be faster and more accurate than the last model. While the phone remains the same size, the phone receives updates similar to the Apple Watch (a new aluminium alloy and display glass), which should allay bending fears.

Price for new iPhone 6s

The iPhone 6s will retain the same price points in US. However in Singapore, the pricing is higher. Due to a stronger US dollar? Or because we look like carrot heads?

Model

Capacity

Price

Remarks

iPhone 6s

16GB

S$1048

$60 increase

iPhone 6s

64GB

S$1218

$70 increase

iPhone 6s

128GB

S$1388

$100 increase

iPhone 6s Plus

16GB

S$1218

$70 increase

iPhone 6s Plus

64GB

S$1388

$100 increase

iPhone 6s Plus

128GB

S$1558

$110 increase

Both the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be available in over 130 countries and 400 carriers from 25 September. Pre-orders from 12 Sep 2015 3.01pm, and can be done through the Apple store Singapore. Our local telcos Singtel, Starhub, M1 should be announcing their pre-order details soon. Like us on Facebook to follow up on the status.

As with all previous “s” iPhone upgrades, the 6s is more about refinement. It’s not meant for existing iPhone 6 owners, but will target those that are still hanging on to an older iPhone, or those stuck on a two year contract.

Xiaomi Note or Mi Note was announced today to a well-attended product launch in Beijing which was broadcast live on Youtube. The Xiaomi Note will be competing with other flagship phones such as the iPhone 6 Plus and CEO Lei Jun waste no time in pitting the Xiaomi Note versus the iPhone 6 Plus.

Comparing the Xiaomi Note vs iPhone 6 Plus

Thinner

Lighter

Narrower

Packing a bigger screen

Flat camera lens as compared to the Apple iPhone 6 Plus

The Xiaomi Note sports a slim angular design, bearing more resemblance to the iPhone 5 than iPhone 6 which sports a rounder bezel. The Note rocks a bright IPS display and with front and back glass panels.

A lot of emphasis on the Mi Note is that it is 6.95mm slim, weighs 162 grams and has a 5.7-inch 2.5D curved glass display. The Mi Note is protected on BOTH sides with 2.5D + 3D curved Gorilla Glass 3. It’s highly resistant to scratches and shattering. Unlike the iPhone 6 Plus, the Xiaomi Note would sport an all flat back with the lens flushed to the overall surface. It will be available in Black and White.

Nothing much was said on the internals though, and it would be running the Snapdragon 801. It is dual-sim 4G capable, with both a nano-sim and micro-sim slot so you do not need to worry about cutting your existing SIM card whichever variant it is.

The end of the presentation threw a surprising curve ball. The Mi Note was turning out to be a nice phone but not a super phone, and then came this. There will be special variant of the Mi Note running a Snapdragon 810, Adreno 430, 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, 64GB storage and finally, a 2K 2560 x 1440 screen. This is really a super Flagship Mi Note, dubbed the Mi Note Pro – and would be sold at 3299 RMB and around March 2015. Around S$710. Looks awesome.

The Xiaomi Note is a 5.7″ screen, 1080p, that sports anti-glare coating and has a reading mode that produced less blue light to reduce eye stain.

With glass panel, there’s also the worry about drops and shattered glass, which interestingly, Lei Jun spent a good couple of minutes talking about the manufacuturing process. He went on to mentioned how expensive it was to replace a cracked screen and tried to explain to Mi Fans why they charge so high for screen repair. The kicker then arrived. He shared that Xiaomi would be launching an Apple care-esque warranty. This would be for China only, with 1 year special protection for drops and water damage at a cost of 199 yuan. Sounds like an amazing deal.

On a sidenote, my ears are cringing from the fake applause and cheers on every announcement.

Xiaomi Note camera is a 13MP shooter, with OIS capability and dual LED flash. It will sport something called pixel by pixel local tone mapping. It looks a lot like HDR to me, where it balances out the contrast especially for landscape type shots. The front is a 4MP lens, with HTC’s ultrapixel technology.

Audio quality is also notable – the Mi Note sports similar ESS decoder as many high end HiFi systems, complete with a 2-level amplifier, to wow you and your friends.

The Mi Note would be selling in China for 2299 RMB, which translates to around $460-$500 Singapore dollars. It would be available in China in a couple of weeks.

Apple announced the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus earlier today and not much surprises all around. The iPhone is now available in bigger screen dimensions with 4.7″ and 5.5″ respectively.

In addition, the iPhone 6 Plus has a higher density screen at 1080p resolution. The other difference is that the iPhone 6 Plus has optical image stabilisation (OIS) while the iPhone makes do with a software implementation.

Good news for those clamoring for the latest iPhone are in for a treat with Singapore being one of the nine countries that will be able to buy the iPhone at the official launch date of 19 September 2014. The other eight countries are United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.

This also means that there is going to be a hot demand for iPhone from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and China. I thought Apple would be making big plans for the China market but that have not materialised yet. iPhone 6 will see significant demand from resellers looking to profit a quick one from Apple fans in these countries. Hence, expect pre-orders to disappear fast.

Update – 12 Sept 2014: Advanced pre-orders for the new iPhone through Apple Store will be a global worldwide launch event at the same time. Apple has slated it to be 12 AM Pacific Time, as per Cupertino. This means Singapore 12 September at 15:00 (GMT+8). The iPhone 6 is looking to be Apple’s biggest launch event ever. Apple has reportedly asked manufacturing partners to produce about 70 million to 80 million units of its larger screen iPhones by December 30, which is about 30 percent to 40 percent more iPhones than last year initial orders for the iPhone 5s and 5C. Initial countries receiving the iPhone are still limited, which would see demand from big countries e.g. Indonesia and China.

Ever since the change in Apple CEO, Apple secrecy and lockdown of upcoming device have never been the same. The iPhone 6 leaks have come fast and furious and now there are the following set of press / website images showcasing the iPhone 6. Looks like the ad concept art for the iPhone 6. There have been some talks on the function of the new hole that appears on the left of the ear speaker – could that be the environment sensor?

I can’t verify the authenticity of these iPhone 6 pictures, but they are mostly consistent with what we know so far about the iPhone 6. Also, they are similar to the leaked phone model shown by Taiwanese celebrity Jimmy Lin. On the other hand, it just looks like nicely photoshopped images aligned to previous iPhone 4 and 5 images. Could just be a concept for now. Some other interesting bits though – 100g phone? I am calling the bluff now as that is even lighter than a 4 inch iPhone 5S. With the larger display and increased battery size, it would be more logical for an increased weight. Maybe Sapphire is much lighter, I need to check it out. The 100g iPhone 6 was a rumour that bounced around in Feb this year.

A new set of photos of Apple’s alleged 4.7” iPhone 6 have surfaced, this time on the Weibo account of dreamerjimmy – Jimmy Lin Chih-ying. Photos of both the front and back of the device are seen, shot next to an iPhone 5s for comparison. The device looks taller and not wider, with better use of the bezel space.

Validity of the pictures should be high – he had also posted about the same time last year with leaked pictures of the then iPhone 5C. How does he get access to such phones? Well, the former Taiwanese singer, actor and professional race car driver is obviously well-connected.

The phone itself is inline with previous leaks – a bigger screen and a shifted position for power button. As for the finish, this could just be the initial prototype and Apple may improve it for the final release.

The iPhone 6 is only expected be launch in around August / September but leaks have already started with a prototype plastic mockup spotted in the wild. Is it really going to be the new iPhone? We will update this post with everything we’ve heard so far about the new iPhone 6.

According to DisplaySearch analyst David Hsieh, Apple is toying with two different display sizes for its upcoming iPhone 6. Both feature more standard high-definition resolution than Apple’s current Retina displays, which would be a welcome change for many people. Hsieh’s report, which is based on his research in Apple’s supply chain, suggests that the company is testing both a 4.7-inch panel and a 5.7-inch panel. Exact resolutions are not clear but would likely continue the 16:9 resolution ratio since the iPhone 5 and also maintain the retina quality of the screens. TheRead More

Alleged Apple iPhone 6 Shells have been leaked on MacRumours, with images pointing to a slimmer design wa super thin bezel. Also, as it had been wildly predicted, is Apple finally going to launch a big screen iPhone to combat the Galaxy Note 3 and tons of other Android phones? Seems to be the case.

The first photos of Apple’s next generation iPhone have surfaced on Twitter, thanks to Australian writer Sonny Dickson and Twitter user Mornray886.

According to Dickson, the photos were shared by someone in China who claimed that the device is the iPhone 6. One analysis done by Virtualpants estimated the screen size of the iPhone 6 to be 5.25-inch. It seems to have an edge-to-edge display too. An easy way to do the approximation is based off the dimensions of the Lightning port which are clearly visible.

The device in the photos appears to have a width of 2.6-inch while the current iPhone 5S has a width of 2.31-inch. It also retains the biometric fingerprint sensor and comes in gold.

It’s hard to tell whether these images are fake or simply development prototypes.

Apple CEO Time Cook recently shared with The Wall Street Journal that the company will not “cross the line” until the technology is ready for a bigger iPhone. He also stated that Apple would not rule out the possibility of doing a bigger iPhone.

With last year iPhone 5S not captivating the market, and Apple significantly losing market share to the likes of Samsung and LG, Apple could be rushing for an earlier release of a big screen phone. We could be poised to see an announcement of the Apple iPhone 6 as early as May this year.